Jan 24 2012

Startup Density in Las Vegas

Recently I posted about VegasTech and the entrepreneurial revolution going on in Las Vegas. Today I saw a great article in Forbes titled Tony Hsieh’s new $350 million startup. Tony, well known as the founder and CEO of Zappos, is putting his time, energy, and money into rebuilding downtown Las Vegas as a tech hub. According to the Forbes story, in addition to relocating Zappos’ headquarters to the old Las Vegas’ City Hall building (along with $60m of renovations), Hsieh, along with some business partners, are investing:

  • $100 million toward the purchase of land and building acquisition
  • $100 million toward residential development including the building of high-rise apartments
  • $50 million toward tech startups with seed investments of $100,000 each
  • $50 million toward local small businesses like bakeries, yoga studios, restaurants, coffee shops and other requisite creative-class amenities
  • $50 million toward education and the building of a school system

I have one word for this – AWESOME.